Farm-gate.



J. D. RODGERS.

FARM GATE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 6, 1913. 1, 1 30,93 1, Patented Mar.9, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

J. D. RODGERS.

FARM GATE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 6, 1913.

Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

2 SHEBTSSHEBT 2 JAMES ID. RODGERS, 0F GEORGETOIVN, KENTUCKY,

FARM-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

Application filed August 6, 1913. Serial No. 783,434.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES D. Ronsnns, citizenof the United States, residing at Georgetown, in the county of Scott andState of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFarm- Gates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to farm gates and has as its primary aim toprovide means for mounting such a gate, the means being readily andconveniently adjustable to take up any sag in the gate, to compensatefor any tilting of the hinge post of the gate, or to allow the gate toswing over ruts or other obstructions temporarily formed in the roadway.

The invention also aims to provide means for accomplishing theabove-mentioned result, which means will be of such character as toobviate the necessity of pivotally or foldably connectingthe panels andbars of the gate as is usually done when the result aimed at is to besecured.

I The device embodying the present inven tion constitutes one of thehinges for the gate and as a consequence it serves both 7 the purpose ofa hinge and as a means for compensatlng for sagglng of the gate andpermitting the gate to be swung over 0bstructions in the road. 7

The invention further aims to construct the device so that sagging ofthe gate may be remedied by merely lifting the free or latch end of thegate upwardly the desired distance, the device acting automatically tosupport the gate in the position to which it is lifted and incidentallythe invention contemplates the provision at the free or latch end of thegate, of means whereby the device .may be temporarily renderedinoperative so as to permit of the gate being lowered after it has beenclosed.

The invention also aims to provide a de vice for accomplishing theresults mentioned, which device may be readily applied to practicallyany ordinary farm gate with little trouble and without extensivealteration of the gate structure. I

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a gateconstructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is avertical transverse sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is adetail view, in elevation, of the device embodying the presentinvention,parts being broken away and parts being shown in section. Fig. 4 is aview similar to Fig. 1 illustrating the application of the invention toa gate of a type different from that shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is aperspective View of the locking bail of the device and its support. Fig.6 is a perspective view of the keeper rack bar with which the lockingbail cooperates.

In the drawings the gate is illustrated as consisting ofrails l which,as usual, are arranged to extend horizontally and which are connected inspaced-relation'by means of pairs of bars or stiles 2. The bars 2 ofeach pair are disposed against the opposite sides of the rails l and aresecured in place by means of bolts or other suitable fastening devices 3secured through the bars and through the rails. By reference to Fig. 1of the drawings it will be observed that the fastening devices 3 passingthrough the bars 2 and each of the rails 1 are out of vertical'alinement and that, in fact, they are arranged in alinement on diagonallines, their relat1ve arrangement being alternately reversed along eachof the railsl. That set of the bars 2 located at the latch end of thegateand the intermediate sets of the bars are arranged in parallelrelation but it willbe observed by reference to Fi 1 that the ends oftherails 1 at the hinged end of the gate are out along a diagonal line andthat as a consequence the bars of the set at this end of the gateincline upwardly and toward the next adjacent set of bars so that as amatter of fact the gate as a whole is of lesslengthat itstop than at itsbottom;

v The gate is mounted for. swinging movesists inparts of plates 6 whichare secured.

by means of bolts or other suitable fastenupper rails 1 of the gate atthe hinged end thereof and which are provided with oflset portions 8which overlap and are secured to the pair of bars 2 at the hinged end ofthe gate and the upper edges of the platest project above the upper edgeof the rail 1 to;

.ing elements 7 to opposite sides of one ofthe l which they are securedsoas to form a guide way ,9 slid-ably receiving the rack bar 10 whichconstitutes a keeper for a locking member carried by the gate, whichlocking member will be presently more specifically described. The rackbar 10 has its teeth 11 inclined in the direction of one end of the barand the said end of the bar is pivotally connected with an eye bolt 12which is secured in the hinge post 1. The point of pivrack bar and eyebolt and pintle and eye hinge 5 the gate is hingedly supported forswinging movement about the post at.

The locking member above referred tois in. the nature of a bail havingspaced side portions 13 and a connecting portion 14:,

the bail being disposed. in position straddling the plates 6 and .therail to which these plates are secured, with its portion 14: extendingabove the guideway 9 and a pivot pin 15 is fitted through the lowerendsof the spaced portions 13 of the bail and through the plates 6 and said.rail 1. A cross piece 16 is secured upon one of the spaced portions ofthe bail and extends transversely thereof with its end portionsprojecting beyond the opposite sides of the said spaced A spring 17 isconnected to one portion. end of the cross piece 16 and at its other endis secured to one of the bars 2 at the hinged end of the gate asindicated at 18.- This spring serves to yieldably hold the connectingportion 14: of the bail in engagement with the teeth of the keeper rackbar 10 and by reason. of this engagement of the bail with the rack barthe rack bar is con-' nected with the gate and constitutes one of thehinge members for supporting the gate. In order that the bail may beswung out of engagement with the rack bar a hand lever 19 is pivotallymounted as at 20 upon one of the rails 1 and has connected toit one endi of a rod or wire 21 which at its other end is connected. to the crosspiece 16.

From the foregoing description of the invention it will be readilyunderstood that when it is desired to compensate for sagging of the gateor for tilting of the post at from its vertical position or when it isdesired to allow the gate to clear obstructions temporarily in theroadway, the free end of the gate be lifted, whereupon the tilting ofthe hinged end of the gate toward the hinge post 4c will result in asliding movement of the rack bar 1.0 within the channel 9 during whichmovement the connecting portion of the bail will ride over the teeth ofthe rack. bar and successively engage the same until the free end of thegate is released. It will be apparent, of course, that the distance towhich the latch end of the gateis to be lifted will depend fupon theamount of sag in the ate, or other existing conditions.v When it isdesired to lower the gate as for example, after it has been swungtoclosed position and it is desired to bring its latch into engagementwith its keeper, indicated respectively in the drawings by. the numerals 22 and 23, the latch end of the gate may be slightly lifted. andthe lever 19thena,

swung in the direction of this end of the gate. This movement of thelever will re-. sult in the bail being rocked upon the-pivot pin 15thereby bringing its connecting portion out of cooperative relationwith. the keeper rack bar 10. The pressure against. the lever beingmaintained the gatelis them allowed to lower-until its latch is incooperative relation with its keeper, where-1 upon the lever may bereleased. and the spring 17 will then act to move the locking bail intoengagement with one of the teeth of the rack bar. great latitude ofmovement of the rack bar between the bars 2 at the end of the guide. way9, a filler block 24: is-secured between the said bars at a point abovetheupper edge of the rack barand in order that the bars 2 may beprotected against weardue to the slidlng movement of the rack bar;

between them, a wear plate of approxi-z mately U-form and indicated bythe numeral 1 25, may be disposed in inverted position between the bars2 with its connecting upper portion resting against the lower end ofthe. block 24: as clearly shown in. Fig. 3 of the drawings.-

In order to prevent too It will be apparent from the foregoing that bythe use of the-device embodyingthe present invention the gate may besupported at various angles of inclination with respect to the hingepost 4L and it will further be understood by referenceto Figs. 1, 4 and5 of the drawings, that the shoulders formed by the offsets 8 in theplates 6 bearing against the edges of the bars flat the hinged end ofthe gate, serve to firmly brace the attachment of the said bolts to therail-'1, the bolts 7 being practically entirely relieved of strain. Itwill also be noted that.

ing the bar to seat firmly against the upper.

edge of the rail 1 upon which it slides and thereby further adding tothe strength of:

the device. Another feature of the invention resides in the fact thatthe gate may be tilted upwardly at its free end so as to' swing overobstructions in the road surface without the necessity of movlng thelever 19 or manually adjusting any of the other ele-- ments of thedevice.

In that form of the invention shown in Fig. 4' of the drawings, the gateis of the ordinary type and the figure illustrates the manner in whichthe invention may be applied to such a gate with but very slightalteration in the structure of the gate. In this type of gate one set ofintermediate bars 2, indicated specifically by the numeral 26, does notextend entirely to the top of the gate but the bars comprising this setterminate at their upper endsat the lower edges of diagonal bars 27which extend from the lower corner of the gate at its hinged end to theupper ends of the bars of the other intermediate set. In applying thedevice embodying the present invention to a gate of this type the rails1 at the hinged end of the gate are cut off along a diagonal line, thecorresponding end set of bars 2 having been removed, after which thebars are again secured to the rails.

In order that small live stock may be allowed to pass through the gatetwo or more of the lower ones of the rails 1 are cut considerablyshorter than the other rails so that an opening will be formed betweenthe intermediate sets of bars 2 above the lowermost rail 1, as indicatedby the numeral 28, an auxiliary gate being provided upon the main gatefor closing or partly closing this opening. A block 29 is securedbetween the bars of that one of the intermediate sets 2 which is locatednearest the latch end of the gate and this block is located in alinementwith another block 30, which is secured between the bars of the set atthe said latch end of the gate. The auxiliary gate consists of rails 31which at their inner ends are connected in space relation by means ofvertically extending bars 32 which at their projecting upper and lowerends receive between them respectively the rails located above and belowthe opening 28 in the gate. The rails 31 are connected at their outerends by a bar 33 secured directly to the end edges of the said rails andit will'be observed by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings thatthe said rails 31 extend above and below the blocks 29 and 30 with theupper rail resting slidably upon the said blocks. The auxiliary gate isin this manner supported for sliding movement and it may he slidoutwardly for the purpose of letting small live stock pass through theopening 28 or it may be slid inwardly to close this opening.

In order that the auxiliary gate may be held at various positions in itssliding movement so as to permit the passage through the opening 28 ofvarious kinds of live stock while preventing the passage of others, onerail, for example, the upper rail 31, is formed with a longitudinallyextending series of openings or sockets 3 1, which may be brought intoregistration with openings 35 formed in the bars of the intermediate setwhich is located next adjacent the latch end of the gate and a pin 36 isadapted to be fitted through the openings 3& and 85 for the purposestated, this pin being movably suspended by a chain or other suitableflexiblefelenient 37 secured to one of the bars of the said intermediateset. It is also preferable that the rails 31 be braced by an intermediate bar 38. In order. that the bar 33 may be readily braced forthe purpose of sliding the auxiliary gate toward open or closedposition, the outer edges of the bars of the set 2 located at the latchend of the gate, are cut away or recessed as at 39, as is also thecorresponding side. of the block 30. Having described my invention, whatI claim is: 1. The combination with a gate and i hinge post, of a guidemember carried by the gate and including plates secured upon oppositesides of one of the rails of the gate with their upper edges projectingabove the upper edge of the said rail, a rack bar hingedly connected tothe hinge post and slidably fitted between the projectingedges of.

the plates and upon thesaid edge of the rail, and a locking bail pivotedto straddle the plates and the rack bar and to cooperate with the teethof the rack bar whereby to 7 support the gate in various tiltedadjustments. a

2. The combination with a gate and its hinge post, of a guide membercarried by the gate and including plates secured upon opposite sides ofone of the rails of the gate with their upper edges projecting above theupper edge of the said rail, a rack bar hingedly connected to the hingepost and slidably fitted between the projecting edges of the plates andupon the said edge of the rail, a locking bail pivoted to straddle theplates and the rack bar and to cooperate with the teeth of the rackbar-whereby to support the gate in various tilted positions,

'means yieldably holding the bail in engagement with the rack bar, alever mounted upon the gate and connection between the lever and thebail whereby the bail may be moved out of position to cooperate with therack bar upon movement of the lever in one direction.

3. The combination with a gate and its hinge post, the gate includingrails and spaced bars secured upon opposite sides of the rails andconnecting and spacing the rails, of a rack bar hingedly connected withthe post and fitting slidably between the bars at the hinged end of thegate and resting upon the upper edge of one of the rails, plates securedupon opposite sides of the said rail and projecting at their upper edgesabove the upper edge of the rail whereby to form a guide for the rackbar, a wear mem ber of approximately inverted U-form fitted between thesaid bars and straddling the rack bar, the plates having ofiset portions41v it 1,130,931 1 forming shoulders resting against the in- Intestimony whereof I affix my sigma);

ner edges of the said bars, a lockingbail ture in'presence of twoWitnesses.

havin side portions pivoted at their lower 1 t 5 ends F0 the plates andhaving a connecting JAMES E portion engaging With the teeth of the rackWitnesses:

bar, and means yielda-bly holding the bail SAMUEL N. AGKER,

in such engagement. J. D'. YOAKLEY;

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

